Sunday 18 December
The Christmas tree looked resplendent for the Cotterstock Carol Service which took place at 4.00 p.m. on Sunday 18 December.
It was a bitterly cold day, the ground still frozen after a week of temperatures plummeting to -6C at night time, and rarely rising above zero in the day. However, this didn’t deter the bell ringers: Alex (conductor), Angela, Bernie, Diana, John, Julie and Sylvia who braved the chill to welcome the congregation with their joyful ringing. There were readings from residents and the congregation enjoyed listening to Katherine Fitton and Simon Brown from Robinson College Cambridge who sang during the service.
This was the last church service in St Andrew’s for 2022 as Reverend Dr Donald McFadyen needed to cancel the 9.00 a.m. Christmas Day service as he was poorly. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Saturday 26 November
In the introduction to Kathryn Baird’s delightful talk “50 Mysterious Postcards” it was suggested that it might inspire us all to write more letters to friends rather than relying on texts and emails. Our vicar Reverend Dr Donald McFadyen passed on a postcard to Kathryn that he received at Warmington vicarage thanking her for her wonderful talk; see below:
Kathryn and the helpers mentioned in the card were all delighted that someone was inspired to send a postcard. Kathryn’s book “50 Mysterious Postcards”, published by The History Press (ISBN 9781803990460) can be purchased from all major booksellers and may well inspire you to write more letters and cards to friends.
Sunday 27 November
On Sunday 27 November we celebrated St Andrew’s Day and the first Sunday of Advent at 6.00p.m. Xander Dairymple from Oundle School kindly played his pipes during the service and Reverend Dr Donald McFadyen was suitably dressed for the occasion.
After the service whisky, and wine were served along with shortbread and canapes. Below is a picture of the stained-glass window in the tower depicting St Andrew and his statue which watches over the churchyard from a recess in the exterior of the tower too.
Margaret Wing had knitted some wonderful reindeer, snowmen, angels, bells and teddy bear Christmas tree decorations which were on display and for sale after the service to raise money for St Andrew’s. These proved to be so popular there were only 9 bells left at the end of the evening.
Wednesday 23 November
All change in the churchyard as a large mature bush is removed.
The view now:
In 2020:
An old postcard from the 1920s
Friday 18 November
It was a pleasure to welcome local author Kathryn Baird to a packed Cotterstock Village Hall on the afternoon of Friday 18th November for her talk “50 Mysterious Postcards”. Kathryn has been collecting postcards written in Pitman Shorthand from the “Golden Age of Postcards” 1900 – 1918 for nearly 40 years.
Kathryn explained that collecting postcards in the early 1900s was a very popular hobby; they were often kept in albums and shown to visiting friends which is why so many have survived today.
Many in the audience were surprised to learn that millions of postcards were sent in the early twentieth century; it was, probably, the equivalent of texting today. The postal service was so reliable in those days, sometimes a card could be posted in the morning and delivered later that day. One postcard sent in 1914 read “this is to remind you that I shall be waiting at Hammersmith station tonight at 7.45 p.m.”.
Kathryn has transcribed countless messages written in Pitman shorthand over the years and the strokes, ticks, dots and dashes of the code have revealed stories of love, loss and clandestine meetings too. Kathryn is a captivating and charismatic speaker and she brought these delightful stories to life. Depending on the information on the cards she has often been able to do further research on these recipients which she shared with everyone. I think all the ladies in the audience were horrified by Sir Isaac Pitman’s summary of the difficulties they would have learning shorthand; clearly Kathryn didn’t encounter these problems!
Everyone had a complimentary copy of the magazine “Antique Collecting” and a packet of Thomson and Morgan forget-me-not seeds which seemed very apt. There was also a raffle prize draw with lovely prizes kindly donated by local companies.
Sylvia Upex, the tower captain for Warmington PCC, gave the vote of thanks at the end and presented Kathryn with the gift of a postcard written in 1906 in Pitman shorthand.
The following day she was able to transcribe the card and it revealed a love story between Lilly and Bert. Kathryn did further detective work and found that Bert went on to marry Lilly in 1912 and they lived together until Lilly died in 1966 followed by Bert in 1972.
Kathryn’s niche hobby is fascinating and her talk raised £506 which will be shared between Warmington and Cotterstock churches. Copies of Kathryn’s delightful book “50 Mysterious Postcards” can be purchased at £15.99 from all good booksellers.
Thanks must go to Stuart at Stu-Pots for selling the tickets for us and to Alison, Bob, Christine, Diane, Martin and Sylvia for helping on the day.
Sunday 13 November - Service of Remembrance
The bells were half muffled for the service of remembrance and the Warmington band of ringers rang to herald the start of the service at 6.00 p.m. The names of the known war dead from our village were read out and their bells tolled. The Rita bell was tolled first in memory of all who served; we remembered Charles Stapleton, Frederick Sharp, Albert Berridge, and Kenneth Dundas and, as the last bell was tolled, we remembered all those who were permanently scarred in mind and body.
The church was decorated with poppies, knitted and crocheted by villagers in 2018.
Our original five bells were refurbished in 2017 as a War Memorial for the village with the addition of a new lighter treble bell inscribed "Lest We Forget" dedicated as a permanent memorial to local people who gave their lives in the Great War and in memory of Rita Bond, a hardworking church warden and verger who worked tirelessly for the church for more than 30 years. The Bishop of Peterborough, the right Reverend Donald Allister, attended a special service to rededicate the bells on the 16th June 2017.
Wednesday 19 October
WE HAVE A RADIO PERSONALITY IN OUR MIDST!
Kathryn Baird was interviewed live on air by Bernie Keith on his Radio Northampton show on 19th October about her recently published book “50 Mysterious Postcards: Pitman Shorthand Messages from the Golden Age of the Postcard”. During the interview Bernie said “It’s a remarkable book that you’ve created Kathryn, I think it’s so lovely, really, really lovely.
Kathryn will be talking about her fascinating hobby and delightful book at an illustrated presentation in Cotterstock Village Hall on Friday 18 November at 2.00 p.m. Tickets are just £6 and available from Stu-Pots in Oundle. Signed copies Kathryn’s book will be for sale on the day; it would make a delightful Christmas present.
Wednesday 12 October
Kathryn Baird from Warmington is the author of a recently published book “50 Mysterious Postcards; Pitman Shorthand Messages from the Golden Age of the Postcard”. Kathryn will be giving an illustrated presentation in Cotterstock Village Hall on Friday 18th November at 2.00p.m. Tickets are just £6 can easily be purchased from Stu-Pots in Oundle. All proceeds from this afternoon will be shared equally between Warmington and Cotterstock Churches
Friday 7 October
On Friday afternoon and evening people came from far and wide to enjoy Sharn Matthew’s talk “Wedding Dresses and Customs”. The village hall looked very welcoming with a real wedding theme as people arrived. Flower confetti was scattered on all the tables and there were beautiful wedding dresses dating from 1914 to 2018 for people to admire.
On another table there were gorgeous wedding accessories, photographs of brides and an amazing wedding cake decoration preserved in a glass dome from the wedding of Charles and Ivy in 1939.
Everyone was given a free packet of seeds of flowers that are found in wedding bouquets to plant next year and also a list of tempting raffle prizes that had been donated by local companies.
Sharn’s talk was a delight; she took us back in time focussing on vintage dresses and telling us about people who had owned them and what their dresses told us about their lives. Within her talk she carefully weaved in the customs, some of which we still observe today. We were quite taken aback by the rhyme:
Married in white, you’ve chosen all right.
Married in blue, you will be true.
Married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow.
Married in green, ashamed to be seen.
Married in grey, you’ll live faraway.
Married in brown, you’ll live in the town.
Married In red, you’ll wish yourself dead.
Sharn did say that nowadays it is not uncommon for brides to choose to get married in red which was a relief to some in the audience. Some of the photographs of gowns that Sharn projected onto the screen belonged to villagers as she had photographed them at the Cotterstock exhibition “150 Years of Wedding Dresses” in 2018. This brought back memories for some in the audience.
After a brief interval for drinks and biscuits Sharn continued with the talk and showed everyone her own beautifully embroidered wedding gown and the waistcoat she embroidered for her groom. They were stunning; Sharn is clearly a very accomplished needlewoman.
We also learnt that, according to tradition, to marry during a full moon is unlucky, and during Lent is poor choice. As the age-old saying goes, “if you marry in Lent, you’re sure to repent”. There’s also a rhyme about the chosen day of your wedding, which goes like this:
Monday for health,
Tuesday for wealth,
Wednesday’s the best of all.
Thursday brings crosses,
And Friday losses,
But Saturday – no luck at all.
Obviously, this promoted a lot of laughs amongst the audience, many of whom were married on a Saturday but Sharn did explain that nowadays people get married on any day of the week with Saturday being the most popular.
After the talk Georgie presented Sharn with a beautiful bouquet of roses and then she helped us to draw the raffle. People enjoyed looking at the displays afterwards and asking questions which she was only too happy to answer.
It was a very professional talk; requisite with Sharn’s forty years’ experience conserving gowns in museum collections all over the country and something we will all remember for a long time to come.
Thanks, must go to the people who loaned their dresses and good luck tokens for us to display and also to Alison, Christine, Diane and Shelley for helping and clearing everything away at the end.
Sharn’s talk raised £364 which will be shared equally between St Andrew’s Church and the DEC Ukrainian Appeal.
Friday 30 September and Sunday 2 October
It was a very busy weekend with the Harvest Supper and Beetle Drive followed by a Harvest Service at church and a fresh produce auction. The supper, Beetle Drive and auction together raised a total of £355 for The Trussel Trust and the money will be used by our local branch to support their foodbank work. Thank you to everyone who gave so generously.
Saturday 10 September
Friday 9 September
Friday 2 September
Sharn Matthews, who has been curating costume collections in museums for over 40 years, will be giving an illustrated presentation in Cotterstock village hall on Friday 7 October entitled “Wedding Dresses and Customs”. The proceeds will be shared between St Andrew’s Church and the DEC Ukrainian Appeal. Tickets can be purchased from Stu-Pots in Oundle.
Tuesday 12 July
On Tuesday evening members of the Peterborough Local History Society visited Cotterstock village and St Andrew’s Church. The Church looked really lovely and there was a gorgeous aroma thanks to Mave who created striking flower arrangements in the chancel and porch.
It was a beautifully warm, summer’s evening as people gathered in the church from 6.30 p.m to watch the Warmington Benefice Bell Ringers ringing the bells. They were also able to see the bells themselves ringing in the tower on our television and were keen to learn more about the history of our bells and the major restoration and augmentation project of 2017.
Reverend David Bond talked briefly about the history of St Andrew’s before taking the visitors on a guided tour exploring the interior and exterior of the church.
He then explained the nature and location of Cotterstock village and conducted a guided walk to the village hall noting some buildings and landscape features on the way.
Soft drinks and delicious cakes were then served waitress style in the hall in vintage bone-china crockery and on crisp white cloths.
The following day we received a lovely email (see extract below) from the society thanking us for organising such an enjoyable evening for everyone:
“Thank you to David for his interesting talk and delightful walk, and to you and your team, for looking after us all so well yesterday evening and for providing us with such fabulous cakes! It’s not just that though, is it? I know how much work goes into organising anything and appreciate your attention to detail in everything you did. Trevor and I were both really pleased with how the evening went, so thank you.
To us, the pastoral side of running the Society is key, so to give people the opportunity to sit together and chat is important. To be able to do it in such a lovely way – your presentation of the tables and the lovely cups and saucers, etc made it all very special – and obviously I’m back to the cakes again!!”
We are very grateful to the Warmington band for undertaking a demonstration ring, to David for giving up his time and preparing this talk, to Mave for the floral arrangements and to Diane, Rachel and Christine for serving the refreshments so efficiently in the hall and cleaning and tidying up afterwards, which is always the worst bit!
A small hamper of edible delights was presented to the Warmington band to thank them not only for undertaking an observed ring this evening but also for opening and closing the “150 Years of Childhood” exhibition and all the other special occasions they have helped us to celebrate in the past. Their support is valued and appreciated.
The evening raised £300 for St Andrew’s; £50 was donated to the church bell fund and £250 to the regular St Andrew’s church account.
Wednesday, 22nd June
Saturday 4th June
To mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth the Second the Peterborough Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers are aiming to ring all the church bells in the diocese over the bank holiday. To support this initiative the Warmington Band of Church Bell Ringers rang the bells of St Andrew’s on Saturday 4 June. We are very grateful to Julie, Sylvia, Doreen, Yvette, John, Chris and Alex who organised and conducted the ring.
The bell ringers are always keen to recruit although Sylvia’s granddaughter Tilly was a little too young at just seven years old; she was delighted to chime a bell under Alex’s careful supervision though.
An outdoor church service was conducted by Reverend Dr Donald MacFadyen and a tree was planted in the churchyard to commemorate her majesty’s Platinum Jubilee. Bob Richardson who was church warden at St Andrew’s for many years planted the tree with twins Charlotte and Rupert Booker two of our youngest residents. Hopefully the tree will thrive and serve as a living memorial to the Queen’s 70 years of service.
This special service was followed by a “bring and share” lunch on tables set up along church walk. Photographs of this and other Jubilee activities and celebrations can be seen on the Cotterstock village website.
Saturday 30th April and Sunday 1st and Monday 2nd May
After months of planning, we staged our 150 Years of Childhood Exhibition in St Andrew’s Church. The Warmington Band of Bell Ringers heralded the start of the exhibition by ringing the bells from 10.15-10.45 a.m. and they also rang to close the exhibition on Monday from 5.30 – 6.00 p.m. We are really grateful for their enthusiasm, help and support.
When we opened the door, we were delighted to see a queue of people waiting to come in.
Robin Windsor had created gorgeous floral arrangements and the first thing that greeted people on arrival in the porch was an eye-catching arrangement in a model wooden lorry.
The exhibition was staged on 4’x4’ boards placed on top of the pews in the nave, these were covered in brightly coloured felts that had been kindly donated by a local company. The boards were surrounded in Perspex, generously donated to us, to keep all the loaned items on exhibition secure; many people commented on how professional it all looked.
Adrian Eldridge had made bespoke display stands for the clothing so that all the christening gowns and other items could be presented safely and shown to their best advantage.
A large jewellers cabinet had kindly been given to us by David Darcey whose jewellers in Peterborough was closing down. This made it possible for us to accept precious smaller items for exhibition as we could display them securely. We had silver christening mugs, spoons and money boxes, Steiff cuddly toys, gold and silver bracelets, a Victorian china headed doll, ivory inlaid hair brushes and exquisite coral and silver rattles, baby’s bonnets, one linen corded cap was worn in the late 1700s. We even had a boxed Brittains carriage and horses made to commemorate the Queen’s coronation in 1952 displayed alongside two portrait miniatures of children painted on ivory and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1852.
The oldest item that we had on display was a rocking oak cot inscribed 1728.
The organisers were very grateful to Mr Capron and the Southwick Hall trustees for loaning some of the older nursery items to the exhibition.
We were very fortunate to have a huge Victorian dolls’ house and gorgeous miniature furniture on show which has been owned by the same Cotterstock family for over 130 years.
The steering group wanted to make the exhibition interactive and interesting for children. Little teddies, kindly knitted by Margaret Wing, Elisabeth Rooms and Angela Whiteway were hidden amongst the exhibits and children were given a little book and a pencil so that they could tick off the teddies as they found them and this proved to be popular. There were also old annuals Ladybird books and comics in the chancel that people could look at and read. Activities were available for children to do at the village hall too and some of the peg dolls created there were really cute and children brought them back to church to be displayed.
A video was created that was playing on a loop throughout the exhibition which people said they really enjoyed. In addition to many other things, it featured the story of Hornby trains, very topical, and some of the old and not terribly PC advertisements we all remember including the Milky Bar Kid Typhoo chimpanzees.
The Market Deeping Model Railway Club had layouts running in the chancel all weekend which particularly fascinated the children and the dads! We really do appreciate all the time and trouble they went to to be in Cotterstock for three whole days.
The comments in the visitor’s book (which we always forget to remind people to write in) show just how much visitors enjoyed rekindling their childhood memories.
Paying adults received a token to claim a goody bag at the village hall where we were serving refreshments. All the items in the goody bags had been very generously donated and visitors received four out of five possible items from a Beano comic, a packet of seeds, two Weetabix cereal bars, a milky bar and a packet of Lego. The goody bag bags were also generously donated by Jolly’s Toy Shop at Thrapston.
Villagers had knitted, crocheted and sewn bunting to make Cotterstock look really jolly for the event. The renowned flower pot people were out and about too dressed as characters in well-loved children’s rhymes or stories.
Revd Dr Donald McFadyen drew the raffle prize draw in the village hall on Monday 2 May at 5.00 p.m. He was ably assisted by Georgie who contacted all the lucky winners afterwards too.
In order to stage this event, the steering group needed a lot of support from villagers to be stewards in church to ensure that we kept everyone and everything safe and to serve the refreshments over all three days. It was a real team effort and worth all the hard work as we raised an amazing £4443.78 for St Andrew’s. A huge thank you to everyone who entrusted us with and allowed us to exhibit their precious items or helped in any way to make this event such a success, before, during or clearing up afterwards. It was fun to stage and will be remembered for a long time to come.
More photographs can be seen in the Cotterstock Section “Photos and Videos of Events”.
Thursday 28th April
Rachel Brooker was interviewed by Bernie Keith on Radio Northampton about the 150 Years of Childhood exhibition. Rachel did really well, she was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and charismatic and we think she might be destined for another career in broadcasting.
Saturday 2nd April
The following article about our 150 Years of Childhood exhibition has appeared in the Oundle Life magazine which the steering group feel is an excellent bit of free advertising.
Saturday 26th March
Yesterday lots of villagers helped to sort the Jumble, people have been so generous and it is a quality jumble sale with good clean items. Villagers arrived at 9.30 a.m. to help with the sale and we were amazed to see the huge queue of people that were waiting in the sunshine for the doors to open. Thanks to the gorgeous weather we had most of the stalls outside in the garden to keep everyone well-spaced out with Covid levels still high in this area. The Village Hall Committee and the PCC have agreed that 50% of the money raised will go to the Ukraine Appeal and the remainder will be shared equally between themselves. It was a huge amount of work for everyone who helped but the sale exceeded all our expectations and raised a whopping £1476.56. Thank you to all who helped in any way, we couldn’t have done it without you.
Unsold Jumble was given to Tansor Church who are organising a Jumble Sale in the Autumn and to the Air Ambulance charity shop in Oundle. Suitable clothing and accessories were taken to a Red Cross depot in Peterborough where they are collecting clothing for Ukrainian refugees arriving in this country.
Saturday 12th March
It was bitterly cold this morning as intrepid villagers met at 6.45 am to erect a gazebo at Oundle Farmers’ market to sell our 150 Years of Childhood prize draw tickets. It didn’t ever feel busy on the market, probably because it was so cold but at the end of the day, when we had all thawed out, we counted the proceeds and had taken £448 which was a very pleasing amount. We had also handed out lots of fliers advertising the exhibition so it was deemed to be a worthwhile venture.
Wednesday 16 February
A group of ringers from Thrapston rang a peal of our bells in 2hr 42min; they celebrated their achievement with a very welcome glass of bubbly. Well done to them – see Ringing World bell board.
Wednesday 9th February
The poster for our village Jumble Sale has been created and is being circulated to advertise the event.
Tuesday 1st February
Village Connect magazine have featured an article about our forthcoming 150 Years of Childhood exhibition which was very eye catching; we are really grateful to them for advertising our event so well.
Wednesday 12th January
The “150 Years of Childhood” steering group made up of Alison, Christine, Dawn, Georgie, Monica, Sam, Rachel, Roger and Sue are continuing to meet to plan the exhibition taking place in St Andrew’s Church over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend. At tonight’s meeting it was decided to hold a printed raffle prize draw and to sell tickets on Oundle Farmers’ Market in March to advertise the event.
Our fliers and posters for the event have been printed and will be useful as we ask local companies and businesses if they would like to sponsor our raffle.
Saturday 1st January
Terry Wright, Andrew Christie, Stuart Weston, David Banks, Elaine Wilkinson and Julian Burton heralded the start of the new year by ringing our bells – see Ringing World bell board.